Monday, November 06, 2017

The State Senate today voted 37-5 to increase taxes by over $440M annually. HB1035X, which was passed by the House on October 25th (by a vote of 55-44), was amended on the Senate floor and cleared the three-fourths hurdle for tax increases by one vote.

HB1035X increases these taxes (the first 6 were in the House version; the Senate struck one, and added a seventh):

Increase Cigarette Excise Tax ($1.50 per pack): $107.4M for FY18, $243.5M for FY19 and following

Apply 13.5% Mixed Beverage Tax on low-point beer: $14.5M for FY18, $14.5M for FY19 and following

Increase Excise Tax on Gasoline and Diesel by 6¢ per gallon: $56.8M for FY18, $170.4M for FY19 and following

Tax Little Cigars as Cigarettes: $694K for FY18, $1.6M for FY19 and following

Increase on smokeless tobacco products: $3.7M for FY18, $11.2M for FY19 and following

Reduce discount on cigarette stamps from 15¢ to 1¢: $495K for FY18, $1.2M for FY19 and followingThe Senate version nixed this from the House version

SENATE ADDED - increase the gross production tax on new wells from 2% to 4% (goes to 7% after 7 years): fiscal impact not given, but likely in the tens of millions

Without adding the unknown sum for the GPT increase, the projected total in new tax collections for the remainder of FY18 would be $183,263,000, while the total for following fiscal years would be $441,390,000.SoonerPolitics.org has the roll call vote list -- the State Senate has not posted the roll call on their website at this hour. All five no votes were Republicans.